08/05/08
The Minister of State Caroline Flint MP has today announced that the Government will be laying amendment to the Home Information Pack Regulations and extending the transitional arrangements introduced last year, which enabled properties to be marketed once the HIP had been commissioned.
The current arrangements, requiring that only the lease will be required for leasehold will now remain in force until 31st December 2008.
Government announcement - http://www.communities.gov.uk/statements/corporate/hips
 On Saturday the 1st March, at 7.30am, MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd, a provider of essential information solutions, acquired the whole share capital of Richards Gray Holdings Ltd. The deal will be subject to an Office of Fair Trading Ruling.
We feel that the acquisition by MDA of our company presents a tremendous opportunity for our business both in respect of searches and HIPs. We look forward to continuing to work with all of our customers, and will continue to deliver the innovative products and services that have become associated with our business.
Mike Richards
 In our continued effort to improve our service to you we have been working alongside our partners Close Payment Services, part of the Close Brothers merchant bank, to make the turnaround of our HIPs even quicker.
We have just launched a new system to allow clients to fill in details and pay for their HIP online, a move that could shave at least 3 days off the time it takes to produce a pack.
Rather than sending finance agreements back and forth in the post it allows the Vendor to fill out the Agreement online. Confirmation of payment or finance is instant.
As a user of the RG HIP solution you may be wondering what you need to do to use this service - well the answer is, absolutely nothing! As long as Richards Gray receive an order which is Seller Pays with the Vendor’s email and mobile phone number we will email them directly with a secure link to the online payment system. To make it even easier for your Vendor the screen will then be pre-populated with their details and they will just need to confirm them.
Please note that the new payment system will not affect any clients who currently pay for their HIPs on an account basis.
If you have any queries about this or any other part of our HIP offerings please ring 0800 030 4477.
Richards Gray has welcomed the announcement that Home Information Packs (HIPs) will be rolled-out to cover one- and two-bedroom homes.
The announcement, made recently by Yvette Cooper, MP on the CLG website, means that all UK homes will require a HIP to be ordered before they can be marketed from tomorrow 14th December.
The statement again focused on energy efficiency, stating that “all householders will benefit from having detailed information about the energy efficiency of their home, and measures to save on their fuel bills and cut carbon emissions.”
Richards Gray currently provides between 150 and 200 HIP per day on a nationwide basis, and were the first AHIPP member to complete a pack, when they were introduced on four-bedroom homes on 1 August.
 Mike Richards, Managing Director of Richards Gray, said:
“We are pleased that the Government has made the decision to roll-out the HIPs scheme to encompass all UK homes, ending the period of uncertainty that was helping no one!
The principles behind HIPs cannot be disagreed with: homebuyers need to know as much as possible about the house they are buying, and as by shifting the responsibility onto the seller to arrange this, there are no nasty surprises towards the end of the purchasing process.
By extending the scheme, the Government has given the industry a chance to see whether the practice will mirror the theory. Some think it won’t, I personally think it will, but at least now we are in a position to start looking for a definitive answer.” |
Rob Heginbotham, Sales and Marketing Director, is very pleased that the benefits of Hips are now starting to emerge from feedback from Richards Gray’s clients
“In the past four months we have seen the advantages that HIPs can offer, and extending this scheme across the board will enable more people to benefit from the packs. As well as the potential energy savings identified by EPC’s (an average of £380 per annum), many other practical benefits to the conveyancing process are starting to emerge
- We have seen many examples where major problems with the title of the property have been identified at an early stage, and addressed before an offer has been made, thereby avoiding delays or deal collapsing
- We have even had a staunchly “anti-HIP agent” admit that he has seen “the time to exchange reduced by using HIPs” – which was one of the original reasons for the whole HIP concept!
- HIPs now benefit first-time buyers, who will be able to find out crucial information about a potential first home without having to spend large sums of money – another key benefit from the introduction of HIPs.
The message is that HIPs can and do work, provided people are prepared to use them, and that means vendors, purchasers, agents and solicitors all taking a proactive approach!
At Richards Gray we are always trying to improve our systems and we are soon to introduce ‘paperless billing’ which will allow our customers to fill in details and pay for their pack online, a move that could shave days off the time it takes to produce a HIP. More details to follow shortly.
We would like to thank all of our clients who source their HIPs from Richards Gray, and we look forward to continually improve our HIP service and helping you meet your client’s needs as we move into 2008 in what is undoubtedly a very challenging market.
The CLG announcement can be seen at here
National Archive closure dates are as follows:
1st - 16th December 2007 inclusive
21st - 27th January 2008 inclusive
Due to imminent building works at the National Archives we are urging our clients to submit any Chancel Repair search requests as early as possible to ensure a reasonable response time.
We will be conducting searches between the 16th and 21st December but there may be delays on results due to restricted access.
Please note: Our Parish Liability searches are not affected by the closure and will provide a quick answer as to whether the Parish has liability.
Orders can be made via your usual means or for an efficient and paperless method we suggest ordering via www.richardsgrayonline.co.uk our award winning online ordering system.
With quick turnaround times and unbeatable service Richards Gray endeavours to deliver and impress time and again.
Richards Gray
Here to help your clients move
06/09/2007
The introduction of 3 bedroom properties to the HIP programme comes into force on Monday 10 September 2007, and this will mean that approximately 60% of all residential properties in England and Wales will now require a HIP.
Richards Gray has been at the forefront of the initial roll-out of HIPs for 4 bedroom and larger properties since 1st August, and has seen volumes grow strongly after a slow start.
 Rob Heginbotham, Sales and Marketing Director is pleased with the first 5 weeks of the programme. “There is no doubt that the market was very quiet in August, and that many people had either put their property on the market before July 31st, or simply not bothered in August and gone away to escape the British summer, or lack of it, until the last 2 weeks!
We are advised by several of our clients that listings of larger properties always decline by a higher percentage in the summer anyway, and we are very encouraged by the volumes we are achieving”.
The phased introduction has also allowed us to benefit from practical real-time experience and make some significant operational and software changes, including boosting the resource that we devote to collecting payment direct from the vendor.
 Lee Richards, Business Development Director, is focusing on system and operational improvements. “Whilst the fastest way to get a HIP in production is for the payment to be collected and processed when the HIP order is taken, we recognise that this does not work for some situations, and that collecting payment is often easiest in the evening, hence additional resource being dedicated to this area”.
There have inevitably been some teething troubles, but we have been able to address the vast majority of these quickly. We are listening closely to our client’s requirements, and many of the requests will be incorporated in our next HIP software release in early October. We are also conducting customer surveys with estate agents, solicitors and vendors to assess feedback and make further improvements.”
The 10th of September will create a major uplift in volumes, and for many agents, the first time that they have had to order a HIP.
Rob comments finally “Whilst we have had significant volumes from such clients as Savills, Carter Jonas and Dreweatt Neate in the first month, we are aware that there are many agents who have not listed a 4-bedroom property since August 1, so next week will provide them with their first real-time exposure to HIPs. Our whole company is now geared up to deliver to our very diverse client base over the coming months”
If you would like more details of the Richards Gray HIP service, please contact us on hips@richardsgray.co.uk or 0800 030 HIPS.
 Members of Richards Gray staff are toasting their success on the water after winning the Corporate 8’s Challenge organised by Reading Rowing Club.
The event took place at Reading Rowing Club, and saw two teams from Richards Gray and seven other local business teams compete in time trials and head-to-head races.
The event followed five weeks of hard work by the rowers, who received intensive training from Reading Rowing Club Coaches, with many having had no previous experience on the water.
The Richards Gray “nRG” team performed very well in the time trial and may feel a little thwarted in placing third in their heat finale after having had such success earlier in the day.
The Richards Gray “Easy Oars” crew made an impressive start to the day by being fastest in the time trial and then going on to win a hotly-contested final, racing to victory ahead of a Microsoft team and an ‘Independent Women’ team whose progress has been featured on local television.
Managing Director Mike Richards was elated with the days results and commented:
“well done to both the “nRG” and “Easy Oars” crews. I witnessed the amount of time and dedication that went into preparing for the event and the training obviously worked! It was fantastic seeing both teams out on the water and knowing that we have raised over £1,500 for Berkshire’s local air ambulance service makes the event even more special.
 The winning “Easy Oars” team comprised of (photographed, left to right): Craig Nicoll, Adam Ralph, Amii Barnes, David Jones (Team Captain) Tony Pigott (cox and also the team’s coach) Ria Champion, Tash Robinson, Joe Rosier, Claire Fisher.
Team captain David Jones said: “It was a great day, and of course it was nice to win our final, but the main thing was that everyone enjoyed themselves - and that the team were successful in raising some well-deserved funds for the air ambulance fund.
Thanks again to Reading Rowing Club for their efforts in organising a great day out, and also our sponsors Boyes Turner, James Cowper, GroundSure and Cyan Group.”
 There has been much media activity in the past 24 hours with regard to the acceptance of personal searches in HIPs. Various articles have suggested that some of the UK’s major mortgage lenders may force home buyers to carry out searches again on the property they want to purchase, rather than accepting the searches in the HIP that has been produced for the seller.
“Much of what has been quoted in the press is either biased or incorrect, and is typical of the reporting that the anti-HIP lobby continue to drag up in their increasingly desperate attempts to discredit HIPs, which will be in the long-term interests of consumers,” said Mike Richards, Managing Director of Richards Gray.
Indeed it was interesting to hear retractions from both HSBC and Barclays quoted on the BBC Breakfast News today (Thursday 24th August), saying that they will accept personal searches provided that they have been approved by a solicitor – which is exactly the situation which is currently in place – so HIPs make no difference!
In order to redress the position, the following are accurate facts regarding personal searches and HIPs. We apologise if this is rather lengthy, but we would rather deal with genuine facts rather than headlines and soundbites! No doubt our solicitor clients know most of this already, but this may clear up the position for our Estate Agent clients.
- Around 90 major mortgage lenders already accept personal local searches as part of the home buying process including 9 out of the top 10 lenders, who alone provide nearly 75% of all mortgages in the UK.
- Over the past 5 years, the use of personal local searches has grown extensively and over 50% of all local searches for current conveyancing are now undertaken by private search firms. In 2006, solicitors commissioned over 650,000 personal searches on behalf of their clients providing an efficient and value for money service.
- Prior to personal searches becoming established, local authorities were both slow and expensive (many still are, and make profits out of a service on which they are only meant to be recovering costs) and the breaking down of this monopoly supply has been good news for consumers, knocking at least £40 million off the costs of moving home annually.
- On 1 June 2007, the latest edition of the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook was published which showed an increase in the overall number of lenders willing to accept personal searches. Lenders’ growing support for personal searches follows the introduction of new industry standards for the search industry via the Search Code, which provides protection for homebuyers, sellers and mortgage lenders relying on search reports.
- The principle of Caveat Emptor has been held up as a reason why HIPs, and the searches contained therein, should not be relied upon by a buyer. This is incorrect. The searches are a factual report on the title of the property, and not subject to interpretation to present a more favourable picture on behalf of the seller or any other party. All reputable HIP and Search providers who subscribe to the HIP and Search Code carry high levels of insurance cover, which can be relied upon by seller, buyer and lender. In Richards Gray’s case, the level is £8m professional indemnity on every search, and a £2m Information Accuracy Indemnity.
- Even the HSBC, who it is claimed will not accept personal searches, DO ACCEPT THEM on a local branch by branch level, and Richards Gray have provided many personal searches for HSBC loans. As quoted by Mortgage strategy today…..“ if the solicitor is prepared to approve another company’s private search, then the bank (HSBC) will accept the solicitor’s sign-off, as it means it could claim against their professional indemnity insurance if the search is found to be incomplete at a later date”. The solicitor would then of course make a claim against the personal search company, who should of course carry adequate insurance cover.
- A similar situation occurs with Barclays, and many other lenders, who accept private searches which have been approved by the solicitor or the conveyancer. This has been the situation for several years, and is the reason that all reputable search companies carry high levels of insurance cover.
The increasing trend of media property personalities, who would appear to have very limited grasp of the facts, making pronouncements on the validity of searches and HIPs is one that Richards Gray regards as both mis-leading and not in the consumer’s best interests.
Mike Richards final comments are as follows: “Over 50% of the current conveyancing transactions rely on personal searches, and the system has not collapsed under a deluge of claims. Why should this be any different for a search when it is contained in a HIP? Richards Gray has an exemplary insurance claim record over it’s 20 years of operation, and if we were not able to provide solicitors with an accurate, reliable and value-for-money service, we would not still be in business employing over 250 people”.
“It makes no sense not to trust personal search information included in a HIP, when a purchaser's solicitor would use exactly the same source to compile a search. It’s the consumer that loses out as they will have to bear the cost of paying for two sets of searches.
“The Government has confirmed the validity of personal searches within HIPs and the majority of mortgage lenders accept them, and we believe that all lenders will accept personal searches with appropriate indemnity cover in the near future. Personal searches are in many cases faster, and are a more cost effective solution for the consumer, so not accepting their validity doesn’t make any sense.”
We look forward to continuing to provide you with the levels of service that you have come to expect and rely on from Richards Gray during the HIP era!
For further information, or to discuss any of the above, please contact any of the following:
For more information on Richards Gray, please email hips @ richardsgray.co.uk
HIP phone line - 0800 030HIPS
 Richards Gray, the UK’s leading independent property search company, has teamed up with HIP provider HHIP.co.uk, to complete the first genuine, real-time HIP in Norfolk.
The HIP was presented to Mr & Mrs Kelf from Great Yarmouth, who have recently put their four bedroom house on the market, on August 1st.
The HIP was very much a joint effort, with Richards Gray providing local searches, water and drainage searches and title documents, whilst HHIP took care of the Energy Performance Certificate and the actual production of the document.
HIPs came into effect on 1 August 2007 for properties marketed with four or more bedrooms. It is expected that they will be rolled out to all homes as soon as there are sufficient numbers of trained inspectors. Their introduction is designed to increase transparency and speed up the conveyancing process.
Mike Richards, Managing Director of Richards Gray said, “We are delighted to be working alongside HHIP to provide HIPs in Norfolk. We have over 20 years experience in the property search industry and our skills, combined with HHIP’s local knowledge, ensures the seamless delivery of HIPs. We have demonstrated that HIPs can be completed in a short timeframe, so people don’t need to worry that their introduction will unduly delay the process of putting their house up for sale.”
Peter Roy, Business Development Director, HHIP.co.uk said, “I’m very impressed by the quick turnaround Richards Gray have provided us. It’s good to know we have a partner that can be relied upon and meet the same service levels we place on our own organisation to ensure our clients get the very best treatment.”
Mike Richards concluded by offering his thoughts on the broader issues surrounding the introduction of HIPs, saying, “HIPs have been a long time coming but I firmly believe that their introduction will prove beneficial to the UK’s property market. We anticipate that there will soon be sufficient numbers of energy inspectors and would urge the Government to stick to their promises and roll HIPs out for all homes.”
 Savills HIP order delivered within 48 hours
Richards Gray is delighted to announce that they have emerged victorious in the race to be the first provider in the country to complete and deliver a genuine, real-time HIP.
The Company rose to the challenge from the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP), who offered a case of Moet Champagne to their first member to take a HIP order on 1st August, compile the pack and hand deliver it to the house seller.
Mike Richards, Managing Director of Richards Gray said, “We have invested huge amounts of time and effort ensuring we were ready for HIPs. Winning this AHIPP challenge proves we have developed efficient systems and processes, and completing the entire HIP in two days also shows that people don’t need to worry that the introduction of HIPs will unduly delay the process of putting their house up for sale.”
 It took the Richards Gray HIP team less than 48 hours to complete the entire process, with the electronic HIP being available within 30 hours. The order came in from the Stratford upon Avon office of Savills Estate Agents on Wednesday 1 August shortly before 1pm, and was presented to Alan and Hilary Bartliff from the Warwickshire village of Long Marston before noon on Friday 3 August, by Ben Hobbs, Richards Gray’s national sales manager.
Christopher Lacy, Director, from Savills Estate Agents said, “We took great care in selecting those companies we would use to provide HIP solutions for our customers. Richards Gray have been in the property search business for 20 years and clearly have the experience and systems to provide quality and speed of service. We rightly have a reputation as one of the UK’s premier estate agents and will only look to partner with companies that can work to the levels that we demand – Richards Gray have just shown they can do that.”
Rob Heginbotham, Richards Gray Sales and Marketing Director is obviously delighted to win the award. “Winning is always a great thing, and I would like to thank all of our team who ensured that we could deliver the HIP so quickly – the property could have been on the market in 30 hours from receiving the order, when the Estate Agent must have the HIP prior to marketing from January 2008. From the wider perspective, it’s also reassuring to know that there were several other HIP providers who pushed us very hard – this shows that the industry as a whole is ready to deliver”.
Mike Richards concluded by offering his thoughts on the broader issues surrounding the introduction of HIPs, saying, “HIPs have been a long time coming but I firmly believe that their introduction will prove beneficial to the UK’s property market in the long run. We anticipate that there will soon be sufficient numbers of energy inspectors and would urge the Government to stick to their promises and roll HIPs out for all homes.”
To join the ever-growing family who use the range of Richards Gray HIP solutions, please contact us by one of the following routes:
0800 030HIPS
hips@richardsgray.co.uk
 No doubt you will all have encountered a raft of media coverage today on television and radio, which will have left you in no doubt that August 1st has finally arrived, the housing market hasn’t collapsed and HIPs are definitely happening!
We are also delighted to be able to tell you that by 12 noon, Richards Gray had received its first genuine, real-time, to be paid for in full, HIP order – something which many people may well have thought would never happen.
Whatever your view on HIPs, they have now started, and the whole Richards Gray team (which now numbers over 250 and is rapidly expanding) stands ready to deliver. There will of course be some bumps to be ironed out in the next few weeks as everyone gets used to new systems and procedures, but we are confident that our experience in preparing over 1,000 full trial packs across the country will be invaluable in making things run as smooth as possible.
We are delighted that the Richards Gray “HIP family” has now passed well through the 1,000 registered users barrier – and as many of our solicitor clients are providing HIPs to many estate agents, the overall number of agent doorways will be significantly higher than this, and continues to grow rapidly.
We have also attached the latest AHIPP press release from today, which addresses some of the “scaremongering myths” concerning the marketing of 4 bedroom properties as “3 bed plus a study”, “ordering and cancelling a HIP” etc. We fully endorse the comments in this release and believe that people should now focus on providing an efficient level of service rather than chasing spurious loopholes!
Finally, if you are already registered with and using Richards Gray for your HIPs, thank you for your support; we will continue to strive to provide you with the best HIP service in the marketplace. If you are not using us, then it’s not too late to find out more about how our winning range of HIP solutions can work for your company.
05/07/07
After 6 weeks of indecision and uncertainty as to whether the HIP programme would ever start, it does appear that all the required elements are now in place for the revised start date of 1st August!
We of course fully understand anyone who remains sceptical, given that we were only 9 days away from the June start when things were pulled last time, and we are well aware that most people did not want to talk HIPs in June, hence we have left you alone! However, judging by the number of you who have contacted us in the last few days, July has signalled the need to restart HIP preparations.
The positive indicators over the last few weeks can be summarised as follows:
- There are now 1,595 fully qualified and accredited energy assessors (latest figures from all certification schemes as at 1st July), and it is likely that the 2,000 trigger for 3-bedroom properties will be reached before the end of July. This does not mean that 3 bedroom properties will need HIPs immediately, but we expect a date for their introduction to be announced soon after the 2,000 trigger is reached.
- Yvette Cooper has an enhanced role as Housing Minister, and will attend cabinet meetings and report to them directly on all housing matters
- Top level civil servants are now running the HIP programme at the CLG, reporting directly to Gus O’Donnell, the head of the civil service.
- Steven Timms, the Chief Secretary at the treasury (formerly Gordon Brown’s number two) has stated in writing that the treasury is looking forward to the phased introduction of HIPs starting on 1st August.
Past experience of course tells us that there could be a last minute hitch, but in view of all the above developments, the prudent approach is once again to ensure that you are fully prepared for HIPs starting on August 1st.
Accordingly, we will be taking the following action during July.
- Your Regional Account Manager will be contacting you to finalise any training or implementation issues you may have, and to ensure that you have received the sign-up pack with terms and conditions etc.
- We will be utilising the government subsidy on EPC’s available in August to offer trail HIPs at £99 plus VAT - a great offer, which you can also use to order a HIP early if you want to market your property in August or September!
- We have spent the last 6 weeks making some additional improvements to our systems, particularly on the payment options – most of these are very straightforward, and your account manager will talk you through them if you are unsure.
- Revised operations and training manuals will be issued in mid-July.
- We have always said that we would review our HIP pricing in August, and we always try and keep our word! We have been looking closely at component costs, with the key variant being the price of the EPC; we are delighted to be able to announce that we will be able to reduce the starting price of the basic HIP to £299 plus VAT, including 2 printed copies, or £279 plus VAT if you do not require hard copies!
If you are not already a HIP client with us, and you like what you see above, then why not contact us to find out more details. If you already buy searches from us, then speak to your regional account manager, or contact us at head office.
As ever, the Richards Gray team stands ready to “help you, to help your clients move”!
Rob Heginbotham
Sales and Marketing Director
31/05/07
Just over a week has now passed since the latest government climb-down on the HIP implementation process, and as promised in our update last week, we will attempt to keep you fully informed with the various developments as we interpret them.
We recognise that there has been a reaction of relief, (even bordering on euphoria) from many people involved in the residential property industry to the latest delay, believing it to be the final nail in the HIP coffin! We fully understand this reaction, and we ourselves have now become very frustrated with the inability of the government to agree a strategy and then deliver it, instead of creating continued uncertainty for all those involved.
Extensive meetings have been held by the AHIPP executives and individual members over the last few days, both internally, with ministers and key officials at the CLG. The over-riding requirement is to seek clarity and cast-iron commitment from the government as to how HIPs will be introduced, or they should come clean now and abandon them if that is the real agenda.
A series of key questions and requirements will be put personally to the minister (Ruth Kelly) this week by the Director General of AHIPP, which have been designed to establish clear unequivocal support for implementing the HIP programme….or otherwise! We will provide you with full details of the questions (and hopefully also the answers) as soon as possible. Hopefully the answers that are being requested, from the highest level of government, will provide certainty for everyone concerned – Richards Gray now regards this as the single most important issue in this whole saga!
The current situation which has created more uncertainty and speculation, not least for individual Home Inspectors and Energy Assessors, cannot be allowed to continue. In this regard, the contradictory approach of RICS, who have been urging their existing members to enrol on their own training and certification schemes, is baffling to say the least! The question must be (and is being by many) asked whether the executives at RICS who made the decisions to seek the judicial review are genuinely acting in the interest of their 20,000 residential faculty members!
We are of course one of the more fortunate organisations in that our core search business is still developing strongly, much of it on the back of our HIP marketing programme, which has been well received since we started at Windsor back in August 2005.
Therefore, our view on the way forward is relatively simple!
- If HIPs are shelved, we will focus all of our efforts on developing innovative search based products and solutions for both our existing clients and also for the many new members of our industry with whom we now have a relationship. We have already re-started many projects that had been on the back-burner for the last few months, Anti Money Laundering, New Flat Management Company Searches and Company Formations are just a few of the new products that will be rolled out shortly.
- However, if HIPs are eventually introduced, we will be ready to meet your requirements, as we would have been if the start date had remained June 1st. We will continue with fine tuning our systems throughout June and July, and our account managers will be available to discuss your specific requirements during this period.
We will continue to keep you informed via regular newsletters of any key developments – we do not like uncertainty anymore than you do, and we re-emphasise that our main wish at this stage is that this whole saga is resolved one way or the other as soon as possible – a sentiment with which we are sure you would agree!
 Richards Gray featured on SKY News today debating the positive attributes of Home Information Packs. Speaking on behalf of Richards Gray was Sales & Marketing Director; Rob Heginbotham. Rob was debating against a non-HIP believer Estate Agent and as with the majority of HIP debates the discussions got a little heated at times!
The overall feeling was that Rob put across a strong, triumphant argument leaving the agent a little red in the face. For more details on Richards Gray HIP Solutions please click here
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